


Before, Now and After

by tarjeiwaves



Category: SKAM (TV)
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst, Babysitting, Blow Jobs, Bottom Isak Valtersen, Boyfriends, Childhood Friends, Depression, F/F, F/M, Fights, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Friends With Benefits, Hate to Love, Kinda, M/M, Masturbation, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Phone Sex, Sex, Sex Toys, Sexting, Shower Sex, Slow Burn, Smut, this is my first fic its probably awful
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-02-08 22:31:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12874416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tarjeiwaves/pseuds/tarjeiwaves
Summary: Isak has known Even since he was 14 and they met when he was assigned the job of babysitting for his parents, despite only being two years older, and somehow they're best friends.Until one day they're not.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Isak is 16 at the beginning of this fic but Even is 18 and some other minor facts have been changed. Also, I don't know an awful lot about Norway so forgive me if I get anything wrong !! :-)
> 
> This is my first fic, enjoy lmao

Isak had been babysat for two years. Two fucking years at the age of sixteen. It was completely and utterly ridiculous since the person who had to 'look after him' was only two years older and was one of his now closest friends, meaning all they did was play video games and eat frozen pizza, despite Even’s half-hearted objections due to the apparent health hazards of cheese pizza. Oh, yeah, not to mention the slight embarrassment Isak felt whenever Jonas, Mahdi or Magnus called to hang out and he had no choice but to reply ‘sorry, I can’t. I’m being babysat today,’ followed by ‘yes, I know I’m 16. What the fuck?’

And, of course, there’s the fact that Isak might have a little crush on his babysitter. It’s not anything huge, obviously, because he knows that Even is very much the typical straight white boy who has been with his girlfriend for two years and posts something every Valentines, Christmas, or, well, every other week. But, still, this didn’t deter Isak because there’s just something about Even that sends him a little bit crazy and he can’t work out whether it’s the fact his sexuality is a massive secret but he feels like he’s being dared to touch him whenever they’re together, like there’s an invisible force pulling him closer and closer into oblivion, or it’s the fact that Even is simply just his type. He didn’t even know he had a type before they met but turns out his type is unusually tall, enjoys all things surrounding the arts and original film making, can cook dishes he has never even considered and, apparently, is currently trudging up his stairs.

Isak rolls his eyes, smiling to himself and moving towards his door only for it to be opened wide in his face.

“Wow, Even, always a pleasure. Thanks ever so much for bursting into my room!” He rolls his eyes again just for added effect. “You know, your mom really has done an amazing job in making sure you’re never not polite.”

Somehow, Isak earns a laugh from his terrible joke. “Shut up Isak, we all know my mom has done a better job than yours,” He winks, but his face quickly drops after realising what he’s said. “Fuck, I’m so sorry, Isak. It jus—“

“It’s fine. Just forget it.” He smiles weakly and Even mirrors this in his silent reply.

See, he knew all about Isak. He knows that his mother had spent the past six months in a mental health facility, that for some reason his dad was spending nearly thirteen thousand Krone a month on, and fuck, call him irrational for it, but Isak doesn’t exactly have a lot of faith when it comes to stopping people from seeing and hearing things that aren’t even real. 

Even had always been there for him. He didn’t seem to mind that Isak had a fucked up life and if he did, he was clearly too nice to say anything, because whenever he messaged him he replied almost instantly and began coming over for reasons other than the small amount of money Isak’s dad gave him for monitoring him and claimed that he ‘didn’t understand why he was getting paid for having fun’.

The thing that baffled Isak, though, was that he didn’t mind. He trusted Even.

“So, what’s up?” Isak asks.

“Apparently your dad has a business trip, didn’t he tell you?” Even says slowly in an effort to gauge Isak’s reaction. He knows Terje can be an asshole without any explanation. 

“What? Fuck,” he shrugs. “Well, at least he’ll be gone for a few days.”

“Well, yeah, but you’re missing the best part!”

Isak stares blankly at him.

“I’m gonna be staying over, obviously!”

“Oh, yeah, sorry. I can’t contain my excitement.”

Even huffs out a laugh and moves next to Isak on the bed, maybe a little too close, which is why Isak moves a few inches to the left. You know, just incase he pops a very unnecessary boner. Isak knows he is actually excited that maybe, by some slim miracle, he’ll get the chance to see Even shirtless after a shower or even just sit near him for a few hours watching a movie. But he knows if he does express some joy, he really won’t be able to contain it.

So, instead of telling Even all of his newly made plans, he opts for a more subtle choice of words. “You’re only here because you’re getting paid for it.”

It’s now his turn to roll his eyes. “Yes, Isak, I’m definitely here for the amazing paycheque I receive.”

“I thought just as much.” He says, smiling and playing along after putting the Fifa disk into his console. 

“Isak.” He hears but figures he’ll turn around just after he finds the fucking remote and, Jesus Christ, Isak really should clean his room more.

“Isak.” He hears again, sighing and finally standing up.

“What?” He says in a tone that’s probably a little too aggressive for the lack of annoying things Even has actually done, but hey, Isak is Isak.

He moves closer. “You do know that’s not the actual reason I’m here, right?” 

And suddenly Isak is aware of the heat of Even’s body accompanied by the warm air that comes into contact with his face and instantly blushes for a totally irrational and fucking pathetic reason. He was blushing because he was standing in front of Even. How old is he? Twelve?

So, in the midst of his thoughts, all he can manage to muster is a mere “Yes”.

He moves impossibly closer. “I mean it, Isak. I love spending time with you and it doesn’t matter what we do, whether it’s playing games or scrolling through our messages beside each other without even talking - I love it.”

“Oh.” He somehow feels his face go even redder but feels it cool down as Even sighs and sits back on the bed.

Isak speaks again. “Hey, why the change of mood? You were happy just a minute ago."

He shrugs. “Fuck, I don’t know, I just wish it were this simple with Sonja.”

“What do you mean?” 

“Just— I mean, we talk about anything and everything but she gets stuck on certain things and in certain routines. Sometimes I can’t fucking stand the continuity. It’s just so boring.” 

Isak is immediately interested and yes, immediately selfishly happy, but Even is his friend and he knows he can’t use this to his advantage so he has to be somewhat kind. “Two years is a long time, Even, relationships are bound to feel boring after that amount of time.”

“I know that, I really do, but I don’t understand how I’ve been friends with you for pretty much the same amount of time and I still enjoy it as much as I used to. You know?”

Yeah. Isak does know. “Listen, it’s probably just a rough patch, should you be telling me this or telling her this?”

“Shit, I don’t even know anymore.” He says, looking as if he’s in some kind of deep thought.

Well, that didn’t work, Isak thinks. He attempts to lighten the mood instead. “Well, maybe you can’t change Sonja’s routine... but you can try and change your own of letting me whip your ass at Fifa,” he wiggles his eyebrows and throws him the other control.

Thankfully, Even laughs. But instead of getting started on the game, he hugs Isak, whispering twice that he’s the best. He keeps rubbing his chin into his shoulder gently and closing any space between them, making him melt on the spot, and Isak thinks if there’s one way he wouldn’t mind spending the rest of his life, this would be it. Isak Valtersen wrapped in Even Bech Næsheim’s arms.

Stupid, straight Even Bech Næsheim’s arms.


	2. Chapter 2

Much to his dismay, Isak wakes up to someone poking his arm and repeating his name. “Isak. Isak. Isak. Isak. Is—“

He rolls over and pulls the sheets further over his head. He already knows who it is. “Fuck off.”

He had hoped it would make Even stop and really fuck off, but of course, Even being Even, just starts laughing and poking him faster. “Isak. It’s 1pm.”

“So?” He throws the pillow beside him at Even, expecting it to be thrown back ten times harder, but Even doesn't retaliate and instead just smiles sympathetically.

“Still not sleeping, huh?”

Isak doesn’t have the strength to lie and tell him it was just because it was getting colder and his room was freezing or that he was on his laptop all night, talking to the thousands (three) of girls lining up for him. “Yeah.” He says instead, waiting for the annoying, albeit kind, advice Even would surely have lined up for him.

“Isak?” He asks.

_Yup. Here it comes_.

“Where's your other sock?”

_Oh._ Isak feels himself blush and scrambles out of bed and over to the pile of clothes on his floor, desperately searching for his other red sock but in the end only finds a black one with a massive hole in.

“It’s the fashion, didn’t you know?” Isak tries to make a joke but as Even is stood there staring at him in disbelief, he just rolls his eyes. “Shut up. Let’s get coffee.”

“I didn’t say anything.” He nudges him down the stairs, trying his best to get Isak to snap just for the fun of it, but Isak promises himself he won’t, at least not this early in his day.

“So,” Isak starts, putting the grains of coffee into his cup, “What are your plans today?”

“You mean our plans?” Even smirks.

“Yes, Even,” He sighs, secretly fond, “Our plans.”

Isak squints at Even as he pulls out another cup, silently asking (or rather forcing) him to make him some coffee too. “I don’t know. I was thinking we could invite the boys over and have a barbecue?”

The boys? He knows Even has been his friend for two years now and as a result shares his other friends too, but that doesn’t mean he can't get slightly jealous whenever they hang out, right? Obviously, he can’t tell him that he’s a little possessive when it comes to Jonas because that might just make Even even less attracted to him, which is kind of the opposite of what Isak wants. No, it’s the exact opposite. “In November?”

Isak doesn’t like Jonas in that way anymore, clearly, and understands fully that he likes Eva now, mostly because he’s had no choice but to listen to him talk about her 'long hair' and her 'pretty eyes' until 2am for the past month, but he still wonders if things could’ve been different. He wonders if he’d still like him if Even hadn’t come along or if he would’ve somehow been able to make him realise he might actually be interested in Isak or even how he’d react now if he told him he was gay. He didn’t want him to think there was anything salacious about their weekly sleepovers, the way they shared a bed or how they’d get dressed in front of each other because even though Isak did sneak a look sometimes, he cares about Jonas and is petrified of losing him — And that, that, is why he can’t sleep at night. Amongst other reasons.

“Yes. In November.” Even replies, not seeing what the problem is, so Isak just shrugs when he realises there’s no point in fighting with him when he gets one of his bright ideas.

\--

“Boys! Come in!” Isak hears happily from down the hall, “Isak’s in the kitchen.”

“Halla boys.” He smiles and hugs them all one by one. “Beer’s in the fridge, there’s food in the cupboards and Even should be setting up the barbecue, except he’s just standing there. Isn’t he?” He stares at Even and raises his eyebrow so he knows it’s a prompt.

“Jheeze, I don’t see you doing anything either, Mr Valtersen.”

“Yes, well, that’s where you’re wrong, Mr Bech Næsheim.” He pushes, trying to mock the way Even says his name. “I’m actually—“

“Good to see you’re still fighting like a married couple,” Jonas interrupts, smirking, and makes the rest of the boys laugh whilst Isak looks down to conceal his embarrassing and apparently always present red cheeks. He somewhat expects Even to blush too, just from the embarrassment of the simple thought of being paired with someone like Isak, but he doesn’t. He remains calm and collected, just like always, and Isak just wishes that he’d lose control for once and show him how he really feels. Not that Isak expects much.

Thankfully, the doorbell goes again and Isak is rescued from whatever Even is going to say about him by the presence of Eva, Chris, Noora, Sana and Vilde but he’s pretty sure it will be something along the lines of ‘in his dreams’ or, better yet; ‘no way’.

“Ladies!” Magnus grins and bows dramatically, earning an over the top giggle from Vilde.

No thanks, Isak thinks, so moves out to the garden where he actually does find Even lighting the barbecue, looking as fine as ever under the dim sunlight and calling them all over.

“You’re so extra, man, why do you have shades on when the sun is hardly out?” Mahdi points out and waits for a reply, but it's Sana that does it instead.

“There’s girls here, he has to keep up the fuckboy image,”

“He’s not a fuckboy!” Isak quickly looks down after realising he probably jumped to his defence a little too quickly. Thankfully, he doesn’t think anyone really takes notice as they move on to finding the apparent psychology behind Magnus’ wild dreams straight after, but he feels Even’s eyes on him for the rest of the time he’s out there. Not being able to take the intensity of it, he excuses himself and says he needs to get some water.

Of course, Jonas follows him in.

“What’s up?”

Isak looks at him. “What do you mean?”

“You’ve been quiet tonight, is there something you’re not telling me, or?”

“No, of course not!” He can’t exactly say he’s freaking out just over Even’s presence. Again.

“You sure?”

Isak laughs a little just to reassure Jonas. “Positive,” He smiles, “And how are things going with Eva?”

“Well - I think.”

“You think?”

“Yeah, I mean, sometimes she seems a little off but then other times super into me,”

“Hm, maybe she just doesn’t know what she wants herself,” Isak tries to offer the best advice he can give with his lack of knowledge on how females work.

“Yeah, maybe," Jonas taps him on the shoulder as he turns around but the serenity doesn’t last long as Even comes tumbling in… With ketchup in his hair. He doesn’t even have to ask. He does anyway, though.

“Magnus?"

“Magnus.” Even clarifies, grabbing the tissue to get the sauce out of his hair. Isak takes pity on him.

“Come here, I’ll do it,”

Sure enough, Even does and pulls a chair out to sit on so Isak can actually see, with Jonas leaving the room laughing at the stupidity of the whole situation.

He cleans Even up in silence, not feeling the need to say anything since it’s never awkward between them, but also not knowing what to say. He grabs the tissues and puts some water over the small pieces, trying to clean him gently so he doesn’t mess up his styled hair, but failing miserably when he notices it drying.

“Does my hair smell of ketchup now?”

“A little.” Isak laughs, pulling at the pretty blond strands slightly harder.

“Oh, brilliant. Surely there must be something wrong with Magnus, I mean, just look at him!” He turns his head to watch Magnus attempt to make a burger but Isak just holds his head and moves it back to the previous position. “Did he tell you about his dreams? Do you think he likes Vilde?”

Isak shrugs, letting Even continue rambling. He pulls even harder on the hair at the front of Even’s head and tries to separate it, and for some reason, he stops speaking mid-sentence. Isak just simply assumes he was too rough and apologises.

Instead, Even says “Do that again.”

“What?”

Even repeats himself, speaking in barely a whisper. “Do that again.” And Isak doesn’t know why he does it, he doesn’t know why he even listens to him, but he pulls his hair again. This time, he hears Even swallow thickly and he’s so confused that he asks why he would want Isak to hurt him again, despite still continuing with his movements.

He doesn’t get an answer, though, so pulls another part of his hair in order to annoy him, or make him laugh, or something, but instead receives a small moan. Okay then.

He wants to ignore it because there’s no way anything sexual could be happening from a situation like this and he moves towards the other side of his scalp, experimentally massaging the different parts just incase this could be his chance, and the louder moan that he earns means he can’t ignore it anymore. It makes him stop dead in his tracks. He moves from behind the chair so he can face Even properly, only to find that his pupils are slightly blown and he’s red. “Even?”

“I-Isak—“ He starts, but stops with his mouth wide open when he notices Isak look down at his growing hard-on, because there’s no way he didn’t notice that. And then, he doesn’t know what to do, because he may have just ruined their friendship and made things inevitably awkward. “I just like— I have— I’m really sorry.”

Isak tries to reply but he can’t wrap his head around any of this, how his friends are in the garden and may walk in at any time, how Even likes girls, how Even has a girlfriend, but most importantly how Even, Even Bech Næsheim, is standing in front of him with a boner. He doesn’t know what to do. He can’t touch it because, well, that would be weird, wouldn’t it? They’re basically best friends. And he can’t ignore it either because he can feel himself getting hard embarrassingly quickly too, just at the sight of Even, which means his secret will be out. Isak, after crushing on him for nearly two years, can’t bring himself to say anything, so he does what he always does: runs off.

And unless Even is just a massive weirdo with a ketchup kink, Isak would say he just turned him on.


	3. Chapter 3

And that’s how they got here, five months later, with Isak sitting beside Jonas, watching him sloppily make out with a first year, and crying into a beer. Well, not literally, but he felt like he could be.

The party was shit. It was a first year party, hence the baby-faced girls who kept fluttering their eyelashes at him, clearly oblivious to his disinterest, and the overly dramatic game of spin the bottle that was going on in front of him. Not to mention the fact that the girl who invited him, Emma Larzen (he thinks), has an obvious crush on him and he can’t exactly give her a sufficient reason for his lack of interest because he still hasn’t told anyone about his sexuality, not even Jonas.

He will do it. He will. It’s just that he has this stubborn premonition of every person he’s ever had an encounter with, even people he’s simply smiled at in the street, treating him differently because Isak has always had a reputation - not one that he likes either. Everyone thinks that he can get any girl he wants because somehow they just ‘fall at his feet’, according to Magnus, anyway, and he knows it’s somewhat true because girls always force themselves upon him. In reality, though, he hasn’t done anymore than kiss them because he can’t even get it up, and it’s not that he’s ashamed; it’s just that he knows other people will think he should be. And he can’t deal with other people controlling him the way people control his mother.

And then there’s Even, who’s standing in the corner of the room surrounded by everyone that adores him and Isak wishes he could be there too, listening and laughing along to whatever lame joke he’s telling now, but he can’t because Even won’t fucking talk to him. After the… incident, Isak spent the rest of the night either hiding in his room or stuck to Jonas’ arm, but somehow Even carried on as normal, drinking and flipping burgers, and it annoyed Isak because he didn’t understand how he could be one person in one instant and someone else in another, or how he could just ignore what had happened. In fact, the thing that Isak felt the most was actually embarrassment because all of his emotions were out in the open and he was now vulnerable, but Even didn’t even acknowledge it, so when he finally messaged him days later, Isak was proud of himself for ignoring it.

“God, why don’t you just go and talk to him?”

“Huh?” Isak jumps, his thoughts rudely interrupted by Jonas.

“Look, I don’t even know what happened,” He burps, “But you clearly miss him, so talk to him!” He seems a little more than tipsy.

Isak giggles and tries to change the subject. “Bro,” He pushes him away, “What have you been drinking?”

“He’s drunk on love!” Magnus screams, dragging out the ‘e’ and making Isak cringe. So, yeah, Isak guesses he’s drunk too.

“Yeah, if he’s so in love with Eva, why was he just making out with that blonde girl?” Mahdi points out. Isak sips his drink.

“I’m just keeping my options open!” He says, rather defensively, but Isak knows it’s because she hasn’t replied to his messages for two days and Jonas’ ego is starting to deflate like the massive helium balloons Isak gets him every birthday.

“Boooooooring,” Magnus begins, “Let’s join spin the bottle!” _Jesus Christ. Why is he always so loud when he’s drunk?_ Isak thinks, but still follows him to sit in the pathetic circle that’s been created on the floor.

“Okay, so! We’re doing it with a twist! If the bottle lands on you, you go into the bedroom with the person who spun it, or you can do a truth or dare,” Emma’s voice reverberates right through him, “Ready, Isak?”

“What?” He says, looking up and not at all expecting or understanding why she chose to single him out, until she winks at him, that is. _Oh fuck_ , he thinks, already planning his escape that he’ll surely have to execute within the next five minutes.

She’s the first to spin the bottle, since it’s her party and all, and much to Isak’s disappointment but not to his surprise, it lands on him. Of course it does. She strategically sat opposite him so no other girl, or boy for that matter, could spend a few minutes alone with him. He had secretly hoped it would land on Eva because at least he wouldn’t have to kiss her, thanks to her thing with Jonas, or maybe even Sana because she wouldn’t even be allowed to kiss him. Fuck, he would have preferred anyone over Emma’s overbearing self, even Even, because at least that way he’d be forced to discuss what happened and they could go back to how things were. But, no, the luck of the universe wasn’t on Isak’s side tonight, and he was being dragged into her room followed by cheers.

“Emma—“ She’s already climbing him like a tree, kissing him behind his ear and along his neck. He doesn't want to shout at her, really, because he’s sure she has good intentions and there’s nothing that involves his dick just yet, so he just kind of stands there, waiting for it to be over.

But then she does begin to move her hand south and that’s when he starts to panic because he’s positive at some point she’ll realise he isn’t hard and probably won’t ever in a million years get hard because of her, because he’s pretty damn gay, so he pushes her hand away as soon as he can find it in the dark.

“Christ, Emma—“

He’s cut off when she says, “I know,”

_Does she?_

“We can continue this later,” She breathes into his ear, realising their time is up.

_No, she doesn’t._ But Isak doesn’t care that that’s not what he was going to say because, thankfully, it’s over and he follows her back out into the circle where he’s pretty sure Even is staring at him, just like he was months ago. Isak rolls his eyes, hoping he’ll see it, because he should know it’s aimed at him.

The game goes on for another half an hour and Isak thinks it’s torturous at best, but nevertheless continues to fake laugh at Emma’s shitty jokes just so he doesn’t seem boring and the only time he does actually pay attention is when Even says something. So far, he’s done two dares, one resulting in a lost sock and the other in an unfortunate nosebleed. Not that Isak cared.

However, Isak did care about the current one because Even picks a truth over a dare and someone had decided it would be a brilliant idea to ask about about his love life because Sonja was apparently nowhere to be seen and if there's two things the typical teenager cares about more than anything; it’s love and sex.

“Okay, if you had to pick, if you were gay, would you rather have sex with me or…” He looks around for a few seconds, “Isak."

There goes Magnus. Of course. And obviously, being the notoriously laid-back guy he is, Even just chuckles and replies with “Does that even count as a truth?”

Isak doesn’t know what to do, so merely looks down, and wishes he could get him to shut the fuck up because he doesn’t understand the depth of the situation and thinks both Even and Isak are idiots. He supposes this is his attempt at trying to get them to talk —that or Magnus is a little more homosexual than he appears.

“I don’t know, but it would be me, right?”

_What the hell?_ Isak rolls his eyes once more at Magnus’ desperation because Even would clearly pick him, not that any of this was literal, of course, but he would always pick Isak over anyone.

Except he didn’t.

“Yes, Magnus, I’d choose you,” He laughs as Magnus cheers, ecstatic, not giving Isak a second look.

And now Isak was annoyed, because he didn’t even ask to be part of this and Even had to make everything more serious than it was - why wouldn’t he just speak to him? This whole ordeal could’ve been ended months ago but Even was just too stubborn to talk to Isak and now Isak was getting annoyed over, what, a game? Isak was annoyed he was even annoyed.

And he wanted to show Even that he was annoyed. Isak wanted to show Even just why he should have chosen him. 


	4. Chapter 4

Three days after, Isak was still thinking of what happened, not that anything really did happen. Isak knew he was petty and managed to overthink just about everything but he guesses that it happens as a result of struggling with your sexuality from the age of eight and having nobody to go to about it, mostly out of the fear of being bullied or even worse, being kicked out of your own home with nowhere to go. But then again, Isak supposes his house was never much of a home in the first place.

And what’s worse about the whole thing is that Magnus and Even have suddenly become the greatest of friends, posting pictures of each other on social media and with Magnus texting him every few hours to tell him yet another ‘hilarious, crazy’ thing that happened to them at a kid called Aksel's party the other day.

Today, though, Isak finally has to get up and stop imagining ways he could get Even back because (fucking sadly) he’s starting a new job working the tills in a shitty little corner shop, though he supposes it’s better than nothing if he wants to travel with Jonas. It's been a dream they’ve both spoken about for nights on end at sleepovers because all Isak wants to do is escape with his best friend and he knows Jonas will love showing him the museums or telling him pointless, nonetheless interesting, facts about how a building was built or how many slaves were forced into doing it. He’s been asking his dad ever since he was fourteen and usually he just hands any amount of money over to him to keep him quiet so he can finish his phone call or write his report, meaning it works for both of them, but whenever he brings up this certain topic his dad flat out refuses. He thinks anything unrelated to Isak’s safety or education is unnecessary and unproductive.

When he arrives, he’s greeted by an attractive white guy with a Colgate smile and a ridiculous quiff.

"Isak Valtersen?” He had somehow expected a short, fat guy who was constantly rude and for some reason always smelled like beans, so at least this is going better than he thought.

“That’s me!” He puts on the most enthusiastic voice possible, and grimaces afterwards.

“Hey dude, nice to meet you.” He says, seemingly laid back. “I’ll be taking you around the store and telling you what to do, basically, but most of it’s just common sense.”

“Sure. Awesome.”

“It’s Alexander, by the way, but you can call me Alex.”

“Cool. Alex.” He smiles, then wonders why he’s always so fucking awkward around new people, then blames it on his dad’s detachment because, why not?

By the end of the tour, Isak decides he doesn’t mind Alexander that much at all. Well, he didn’t actually teach Isak much, just where the most requested products are, but they had a genuine conversation. He learns that Alex has two cats, still lives with his dad, which is why he got the position of trainee manager here at such a young age, and that he makes really bad jokes. It kind of works though.

Alex says it’s better for Isak to just stack shelves for now, until he has time to properly teach him how to use the till, but Isak wonders just how much time it takes to teach somebody to press some buttons and say ‘have a nice day!’ when they’re done. It makes him feel a little bummed out because, does he think he’s stupid? He’s not. Even though the biggest reason for his intelligence is the fact that he was always bored enough to study as he only ever had one friend to hang out with and he didn’t want to burden him by asking to go out with him every night.

“Got it?” He’s interrupted.

“Huh?” Oh, it’s Alex.

“The position of the cans beside the jars?”

How thrilling, Isak thinks. “Oh, yeah, I’ll get right to it.”

Alex smiles, nods and walks away, believing that he actually knows what he’s doing when he truly has no idea and will be guessing for the next five hours.

\- -

Isak has been doing this for at least three hours at this point, and is becoming distracted by every little movement. He’s even resorted to counting the number of tiles on the floor.

Maybe that's why he notices the giant racket coming in from the sliding doors, followed by the floppy hair accompanying it. _Not fucking Magnus, not right now._ He screams internally.

He quickly grabs the box closest to him and pretends to be busy, working rapidly like stacking shelves is as interesting as bioscience or medicine. However, irritatingly and fucking obviously, Magnus still spots him and probably could from miles away because, well, he’s Isak Valtersen and clearly his life is a shit show.

“Bro!” He practically screams.

Isak cringes. “Hi.”

“What are you doing here!?” He’s always so excited when he talks.

“Considering I’m in the uniform, Magnus, I work here.”

“No! What! Since when!”

“Since now.”

“Awesome!” There’s a patch of silence. "I’m here buying beer for my pregame.”

“I didn’t ask, but okay. Good for you.” He knows he’s being a dick but Magnus will be Magnus and Isak will be Isak. _And he’s in a bad mood._

“Why are you always so mean to me?” He sounds like a kid.

“Mean? Ma-“ He’s startled by a deep voice talking about eggplants.

“Did you know they’re from the same family as potatoes?” He looks up and his face falls. “Oh."

It’s _Even_. He drops his box of nuggets.

"You’ve dropped your box of nuggets.” Magnus points out.

Isak feels his face going red. He nods.

“You work here?” Even surprisingly asks. If he didn't know him, he'd think he was actually trying to save Isak from cringing. 

But still, Isak still can’t get over the embarrassment of firstly, being seen in an unflattering work uniform, and secondly being scared by a voice and dropping his god damn box of nuggets, so he nods again.

“Yeah.. So anyway, I said I was having a pregame?” Magnus says.

_Come on Isak, get it together,_ he says to himself and coughs. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’m inviting you. Well, no, actually I'm telling you to come because if you don’t then Jonas will be upset and me too, clearly, but what I mean is that Jonas is your best friend so-“

“Magnus!” Isak and Even both raise their voice at the same time. Isak looks down.

“I’m coming. Stop worrying. When is it?”

“Oh, cool.” He’s smiling again. “Tomorrow at 9pm because I have to wait for my mom to leave the house.”

Isak bites back a laugh. “What a badass. Who’s going? Just us?” He gives Even the side-eye.

Even rolls his eyes.

“All of us!” He grins. _What the hell is ‘all of us’ meant to mean?_

“Nice, I guess? Anyway.. I have to get back to work now because Alex is staring at me, so.” He wasn’t really staring, Isak just wanted to exit the conversation.

“Who’s Alex?” Even asks for some reason.

“Who do you think, Even?”

“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking.”

“Trainee manager. Happy?”

He almost thinks he can see Even’s facial muscles relax a little.

Then there's just silence.

Magnus starts speaking, bless him, to make it less weird. “Well, we have beer to buy! Come on, bro." After, Magnus smiles and him and his new best friend walk away, probably talking about something random like armpit hair or porn.

So, Isak contemplates, he has a day and a half to think of something that will make Even regret the small - but big to Isak - thing he said at their last pregame. Because fuck him.. And stuff.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!! as i said it's my first fic so comments and kudos are appreciated <3


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